The Socceroos lost 1-0 in their World Cup warm-up against Mexico at the Rose Bowl on the eve of Tony Popovic’s final squad announcement.
The co-hosts of the upcoming World Cup had it all their way in the first-half and opened the scoring when Johan Vásquez headed home a corner. Australia, as has become commonplace under Tony Popovic, were much improved in the second half but were unable to find the back of the net.
The lessons learned from the defeat will become clear when Popovic announces his 26-man squad tomorrow.
It was a curious opening to the match when, after six minutes, the referee waived away what looked like two clear fouls within seconds of each other. Lucas Herrington was beaten by Orbelín Pineda and brought the winger down as he tried to speed beyond him and as Australia launched the loose ball in-behind the Mexico defence, Mohamed Touré was pulled down by Edson Alvarez with only the goalkeeper left to beat. The referee was entirely unmoved in both situations.
Australia registered their first effort at goal following a deep free-kick after a quarter of an hour. Connor Metcalfe floated the ball towards the towering target of Harry Souttar and when Herrington flicked the ball into the path of Jackson Irvine, his shot was pulled wide of the left post.
The World Cup co-hosts provided the first shot on target ten minutes later when an in-swinging cross was flicked goalward by Alexis Vega and drew an acrobatic, reflexive save from skipper, Mat Ryan.
But the veteran goalkeeper was unable to stop the header that came his way just minutes later, when Johan Vásquez flicked the ball in off the back-post from a corner.
Ryan hurried to his near-post to smother another scrappy Mexican attack and when a goal-kick was awarded the teams huddled towards their respective benches for a cooling break, the likes of which will occur at every match of the upcoming World Cup.
As the board was raised to announce three minutes of additional time at the end of the first half, a long, floating ball was disastrously dealt with by Mateo Chávez. The left-back cushioned his header right to the feet of an unmarked Touré, and he flicked his lobbed effort wide of a gaping, empty Mexico goal.
The Socceroos made a brighter start to the second period when Souttar’s presence in the box earned them a flurry of sights at goal. Aiden O’Neill’s effort from range was the best of the lot and it drew a good, diving save from the freshly-introduced Guillermo Ochoa, on the cusp of appearing in his sixth World Cup.
In the moments following a quadruple substitution for Australia after the hour mark, two of the introductions linked up to create a golden chance for the Socceroos. Kai Trewin cut inside from the right and slipped a good pass in to Ajdin Hrustić but Mexico scrambled well and his shot was smothered at close-range.
Neither side could manufacture a clear-cut chance in the final stages of the match and Mexico held on much to the satisfaction of the Rose Bowl crowd. The Socceroos will complete their World Cup preparations with a friendly against Switzerland in San Diego on June 6.
